Apollo sitting on Parnassus surrounded by the muses and famous poets

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi)|Marcantonio Raimondi

ca. 1517–20 · Engraving; second state of five · Drawings and Prints

Raphael's 'Parnassus' in the Vatican is the paradigmatic representation of the subject where Apollo on Parnassus is surrounded by the muses and famous poets, from which all later versions drew inspiration. Since the room in which it was painted, the Stanza della Segnatura (thought to have been the private library of Pope Julius II r. 1503–13) was not publicly accessible until well into the seventeenth century, it was Marcantonio's print that established its canonical status. Numerous differences between the engraving and the completed fresco, however, indicate that the engraving records an early idea for the composition based on a lost drawing by Raphael.

Artist

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi)|Marcantonio Raimondi

Date

ca. 1517–20

Medium

Engraving; second state of five

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Henry Walters, 1917